Railway foot-guard.



Patented Aug. I3, |90I.

i w. Dmscou.. RAILWAY FOOT GUARD.

(No Mdel.)

UNITED STATES einen.

lPATENT RAILWAY FOOiT-G UARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 680,571, dated August13, 1901.

Application filed November 12, 1900. Serial No. 36,284. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, WILLIAM DRIscoLL, a subject of the Queen of GreatBritain, residing at Brockville, in the Province of Ontario and Dominionof Canada, have invented a new and useful Railway Foot-Guard, of whichthe following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to foot-guards for railway-frogs,switch-rails,wing-rails, and analogous parts of aroad, and has for itsobject to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient yielding guardadapted for preventing the foot of a pedestrian from being caught underthe round of the rails at frogs, switches, guardrails, and the like,known as railway-frogs.

Further objects and advantages of this inventon will appear in thefollowing description, and the novel features thereof will beparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan View of a portion of a railway-tracksystem, including a switch-rail and frog, showing foot-guardsconstructed in accordance with my invention applied in the operativeposition thereto. Fig. 2 is a side view of a switch-rail foot-guardarranged at its free end upon a spacing-block and indicating in dottedlines the position occupied by the guard when depressed by thetightening of the front holding-spike. Fig. 3 is a similar View of aswitch-rail foot-guard arranged terminally upon the foot of the rail.Fig. 4 is a plan view of the foot-guard detached. Figs. 5 and 5a are,respectively, side and plan views of a toe-guard, the former showing indotted lines the terminal position of the guard when a spacing or restblock is not employed. Figs 6 and 6 are, respectively, side and planviews of a wing-rail guard.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures of the drawings.

The foot-guard embodying my invention is adapted for arrangement in theinterval between any two contiguous rails of a track system to preventaccumulations between said rails, and it is yieldingly constructed witha raised center or vintermediate portion, which iis disposed in the pathof the flanges of wheels traversing one of said rails. The constructionof the foot-guard is essentially the same whether used in connectionwith switch-rails, frogs, or wing-rails, the differences, explainedhereinafter, being designed merely to adapt the guards to the peculiarrelative positions of the rails between or contiguous to which they arelocated. Said essential construction embodies a thin plate of yieldingor elastic metal secured at one end to a ii'xed object and resting toslide freely at the other end, the intermediate portion of the platebeing bowed upwardly to occupy a position in the path of wheelanges. Thefree end of the guard-plate is tapered or reduced approximately to aknifeedge, with the object of adapting it to slide under obstructions,such as accumulations of snow and ice, and thus avoid riding thereoverand displacing the body portion of the plate.

In the construction illustrated, l represents a switch-guard, which isinterposed between a main-line rail 2 and a switch-rail 3, said platebeing tapered continuously from its heel or rear end toward its toe orfront end, the latter being interposed between the free end of theswitch-rail and the contiguous portion of the main rail, and, asindicated in Figs. 2 and 8, said front end or toe of the guard-plate isfree for sliding movement either upon a spacing-block 4, as shown inFig. 2, or a rail-foot, as shown in Fig. 3, while the heel or rear endof said plate is provided with a terminal notch 5 and a spike-opening 6,which are engaged, respectively, by a fixed rear spike '7 and a frontadjustable or guide spike 8. Between its extremities the guardplate isbowed upwardly to normally occupy a position at its convexed sidecontiguous to the plane of the tread of the rail, while the extremitiesof the plate are reversed or upwardly concaved, of which one bears upona fixed smooth-surfaced rest, such as the upper surface of aspacing-block 5 or the surface of a rail-foot, While the other issecured bythe spikes 7 and 8 to a iixed object, such as a railtie. Asabove indicated, the normal position of the upwardly-convexed or bowedintermediate portion of the plate is preferably in or contiguous to theplane of the tread of the rail; but in this position the front oradjustable guide-spike 8 is partly drawn or is arranged with its head orterminal enlargement IOC spaced from the surface of the fixed support ortie 9 a greater distance than the thickness of the plate. This allows afree vertical movelnent of the portion of the plate which is pierced bysaid spike 8, in addition to the longitudinal sliding movement of thefree end of the plate, and is the preferable arrangement of the parts,except in winter. During the cold season, however, I prefer to depressthe guide-spike 8 to draw the convexed or bowed intermediate portion ofthe guard-plate downwardly to occupy a position slightly below the planeof the tread of the rail, as indicated by the dotted lines in Figs. 2and 3, thus allowing a less yielding movement of the guard-plate, fromthe fact that it is depressed to a less extent by the contact of awheel-Hangs therewith.

The toe-guard la (illustrated in Figs. 5 and 5a) isconstructedsubstantially as above indicated, the toe or free end thereofresting upon a spacing-block 4ta, similar to that described inconnection with the switch-rail guard; but it will be understood thatthe use of such a block is not indispensable. Where the location of thetoe-guard adjacent to the toe of a frog or between the contiguous rails2a and 3a, radiating from a frog, is not obstructed by a block, the toeof the guard may be rested upon a rail-foot, as indicated in connectionwith Fig. 3. In the same way a wing-rail guard lb, such as thatillustrated in Figs. 6 and 6, is adapted to be arranged contiguous tothe extremity of a guard-rail 2b, the construction being similar to thathereinbefore described, with the exception that one edge of the plate isprovided with an offset l0 to suit the position of the contiguousdeflected end 16 of the wing-rail. I have also shown a guard-rail platelc and a heel-guard ld,which, however, as above indicated, areconstructed, essentially, as above described.

A further advantage of the construction described resides in the factthat a uniform size of guard-plate may be used in connection with roadshaving rails of different heights, for the reason that the guide-spikecan be driven more or less to arrange the upper or tread surface of theintermediate or bowed portion of the plate in the desired position withrelation to the rail-tread. The yielding quality of the plate preventsaccumulations of foreign substances between the rails protected. therebyfrom becoming compacted, and thus eventually interfering with thepassage of the wheel-anges therebetween, and thus the dangers incidentto the derailing of cars by the filling or choking of frogs orguard-rail spaces is averted.

As best shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, the free extremity ofthe spring-plate is formed into a chisel edge 11, with the flat lowerface thereof slidably supported upon the spacing-block 4 or the foot ofa rail, so as to freely move upon the same and cut under anyaccumulations of dirt, ice, dre., and thereby precluding the possibilityof the free end of the guard from riding upwardly and over the top ofsuch an accumulation, as an elevation of the free end of the guard mightresult in damage thereto by the wheels of a train passing over the same.

Various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details ofconstruction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit orsacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim isl. Arailway foot-guard,having a yieldable plate terminally supported upon fixedbearing-surfaces, and upwardly bowed at its intermediate portion tooccupy a position in the path of wheel-flanges, one end of the platebeing fixed against longitudinal movement, and the opposite free endhaving its upper side beveled downwardly and outwardly into a chiselcutting edge, the under fiat side of which being slidably supported uponthe adjacent bearing-surface, whereby the chisel-edged terminal isadapted to take under any accumulation of foreign matter upon saidsurface, when the free end of the guard is thrust forwardly by thepressure of wheel-flanges upon the upwardly-bowed intermediate portionthereof.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a footguard for railway-tracks,consisting in an elongated metallic spring-plate, which has the greaterpart of its intermediate portion bowed in a continuous arch, with itsopposite longitudinal edges converged from the heel to the toe thereof,the heel terminal of the guard being formed into a fixed attaching endhaving au outer terminal spike-notch and an inner spike-opening, and theopposite toe terminal being formed into a slidable support, having itsupper side beveled downwardly and outwardly into a chisel edge, thebeveled portion being upon the convex side of the intermediate bowedpart of the guard.

3. In a railway foot-guard, opposite sup ports, an upwardly-bowed springguard-plate having its terminals bearing upon the respective supports,one terminal being freely slidable and the opposite terminal being fixedto the adjacent support, the xed end of the plate having spaced innerand outer openings, a fastening driven through the outer opening intothe support and iixedly securing the plate thereto, and avertically-adjustable fastening driven through the inner opening andinto the support, the plate inclining upwardly and inwardly from theouter fastening, and the head of the inner fastening being normallylocated above that of the outer fastening, and in engagement with theupper side of the upwardly-inclined portion of the plate, said inneropening loosely receiving the inner fastening, whereby the adjacentportion of the plate is free to fall and rise upon the fastening as aguide.

4C. A railway foot -guard having an upwardly-bowed yielding plate,terminally ar- IOO ranged upon fixed bearing-surfaces, and havsurface ofthe fixed support, substantially as ing upwardly-eoneaved portions uponoppospecified. v site sides of the upwardly-bowed intel-niedi- Intestimony that I claim the foregoing as ate portion, one of saidupWardly-coneaved my own I have hereto affixed my signature in 5portions of the plate having longitudinallythe presence of twowitnesses.

spaced spike-openings, and front and rear spikes respectively engaging'said openings, WILLIAM DRISCOLL' the front spike being headed to bearupon Witnesses: the upper surface of the plate to vary the R. H.CLIFFORD, 1o normal intervalbetween the saine and the CHARLES E. FOSTER.

